Opinions and experiences of Greek high school teachers, of Inclusive Classes, with regard to the Inclusive Education of the deaf/hard- of-hearing students

Postgraduate Thesis uoadl:2725572 346 Read counter

Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Ειδική Αγωγή
Library of the School of Education
Deposit date:
2018-03-29
Year:
2018
Author:
Bellou Kyriaki
Supervisors info:
Καλλιρρόη Παπαδοπούλου, επίκουρη καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Εκπαίδευσης και Αγωγής στην Προσχολική Ηλικία, Εθνικόν και Καποδιστριακόν Πανεπιστήμιον Αθηνών.
Original Title:
Απόψεις και εμπειρίες εκπαιδευτικών Τμημάτων Ένταξης, της Δευτεροβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης, αναφορικά με την Ενταξιακή Εκπαίδευση κωφών και βαρήκοων μαθητών
Languages:
Greek
Translated title:
Opinions and experiences of Greek high school teachers, of Inclusive Classes, with regard to the Inclusive Education of the deaf/hard- of-hearing students
Summary:
Over the past few years, the attendance of children with disabilities and special educational needs at the usual general education structures constitutes the formal policy and practice, both at a global and at a national level. The dialogue on inclusive education, as a new approach to the educational process, aiming at the effective response to the heterogeneity of the students’ population, is becoming increasingly intense.
However, in everyday school life, there appears to be a significant «divergence» between the practices and factors which promote and influence inclusive education and the philosophy it encompasses.
As fundamental factors of the educational process, teachers play a key role in formulating practices which favor inclusion (or exclusion).
Τhe pathological education model, according to which the deaf/hard-of-hearing students were trained in separate classes from their hearing peers started to be questioned in the 1960s. Nowadays, the deaf/hard-of-hearing students’ attendance at general schools seems to be gaining ground. Nevertheless, those involved in the educational process of the deaf are still concerned with the three main questions («where», «how», «what» the deaf/hard-of-hearing children have to learn) which have been at the center of attention since its very beginning.
This qualitative research presented here is an attempt to investigate the opinions of ten (10) Greek high school teachers of inclusive classes, with regard to the Inclusive Education of the deaf/hard-of-hearing students. In particular, the definition of Inclusive Education and disability, as well as the applied educational practices, in the inclusive classes, have been searched out. In addition, the detection of the challenges the education of the deaf /hard-of- hearing students face in the existing educational system and the proposed changes for the improvement of it has been prominent.
This thesis uses semi structured interview as a methodological tool with its data analysis being based on content analysis. The ultimate goal of this research is to contribute to the promotion of inclusive education.

According to the outcomes of the present research, teachers' views reveal confusion and incomplete knowledge about Inclusive Education, while a few hesitations referring to the attendance, generally, of students with disabilities and, specifically, of deaf/hard-of-hearing students in the general school are displayed.
The clinical model of disability is dominant, nevertheless the «restrained» certainty of part of the participants for classification of the deafness into the categories of people with disabilities, is of real interest.
Lack of training is featured both as an essential prerequisite for integration efforts and an imperative need in order contemporary educational challenges to be dealt with.
The adoption of non-inclusive educational practices and the insistence on formal practices of general education such as frontal teaching and evaluation are related to the inability of the educational system to disengage itself from traditional forms by failing to respond to modern economic, political, cultural and social requirements.
Finally, the requirement for interdisciplinary cooperation and improvement of the
school infrastructure remains high priority.
Main subject category:
Special education
Keywords:
Inclusive Education, deafness/hearing loss, inclusive classes, views and experiences of high school teachers
Index:
No
Number of index pages:
0
Contains images:
No
Number of references:
357
Number of pages:
250
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